The Diary of a Happy Girl

GG Flowers

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GG’s Flowers, a flower shop located in Canberra, Australia, is one of the first socially sustainable flower shops that hire people with special needs. The idea for G&G’s Flowers was inspired by 16-year-old Gayana Wijewickrema who has Down syndrome. In fact, one of the “G’s” in GG’s Flowers stands for Gayana. The other “G” is for her mother Geetha who is an accredited florist.

GG’s Flowers all started when Geetha was thinking of ways to help Gayana learn skills to help her be able to work and support herself later in life. Gayana has always loved flowers, so it seems that the two went hand-in-hand perfectly. Geetha and Gayana work together as a team. Geetha creates the beautiful arrangements while Gayana serves as her floral assistant. Gayana is also responsible for delivering the flowers to locals, which she does with a big smile.

Nipuni Wijewickrema, Gayana’s 22-year-old sister, says that they hope to hire more people with disabilities at the shop. They are working on spreading the word about their business. Folks behind Skout told HuffPost that the more people that buy their flowers at GG’s Flowers, the more people with disabilities they can afford to hire and train.

For the full story on GG’s Flowers and their socially sustainable idea, check it out on The Vocal.